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‘It’s a secret.’ She said, mimicking Algie’s gesture – even though she lacked lips to press her fingers against – and nodded. ‘That’s so nice of you.’

Yes! She’d help him get better, ohyes~! Which reminded her …

‘Do you something that helps with dreams? Bad dreams? I tried to find something …’ She glanced back at the book she’d been reading still sitting on the counter top, a heavy, seemingly ancient tome which dealt with the very basics of herbal remedies and potion making.

Nephrite watched closely, eyes wide with awe. To her, who lived in a household which was completely unmagical (with the sole exception of her own existence), this bag was amaaaazing! Maybe she could get a wardrobe that worked like that some time. Oh, just how many dresses she would be able to fit in there~! She rubbed her hands in quiet glee, deciding she so needed to inquire about it.

When Algie pulled forth the small bottle, however, the young fiend’s disappointment was evident. Oh, only tea? Somehow she’d been expecting something just as amazing as the bag itself. But, maybe it would work better than the ones she’d tried so far, as the herbs the wizard specified were yet unfamiliar to her. Only …

‘He doesn’t like tea very much,’ she sighed. ‘I have to be really, REALLY stubborn to make him drink any. I’ve tried teas before, but he’s … very suspicious about my “concoctions”, and makes not-nice comments about how awful they taste.’ Her tail swished with frustration. It was hard to get Amon to do anything which was supposedly ‘good’ for him. ‘Maybe this one will help. I’ve never heard of those herbs.’ She said, accepting the small bottle with a graceful bow.

And, uh … ‘What’s a meditation?’ She inquired. She’d never heard of it. Knowing her bond, though, it was likely he’d hate on it on principle.

Speaking of … She stilled for a moment, reaching along their mental bond. She’d been explicitly told to not do so while he was working (by both Amon and Athan), but … Yes, she’d been right. The almost painful tension of him being away so far from her was definitely lessening. He was on his way to pick her up.

‘Sometimes I help with the cooking,’ she told Algie. ‘I like how it smells. But I never tried baking.’ Still, that was somewhat of a revelation to her that herbs could be used that way as well. Of course, they were used as spices, but as soon as they were supposed to do something, that seemed to call for tea, or essential oils or ointments or something of the like.

She listened closely as the wizard explained about meditation, obediently following him to look at the pendant he’d pointed out. She’d seen a figurine like that in Granny Mang’s shop, she realized, together with others, some of which had many, many arms … Well, at least that gave her a good idea as to whom to bug about that kind of stuff.

‘Is meditation like smoking?’ She wondered, with a bit of a frown. Because, it really sounded a lot like when Amon had struggled to explain to her why he liked smoking so much. Mang occasionally smoked too, she recalled, from a long tinycute type of pipe. Still, the tobacco the old crone used smelled a lot better than Amon’s cigarettes. Those were just … stinky.

‘He likes it, I think~!’ Nephrite said – always the one to point out the obvious – personally thinking it was a good thing Athan had spelled the displays to keep anyone but those permitted to from messing with them. Or else, she suspected, little Bloo would have made off with one of those pendants instantly. Not to mention herself and those delicious hairsticks she had discovered earlier this day …

There were no price tags, of course, but she figured those pendants would be easily within the range of her allowance. If not, she’d just have some bugging to do. In any way, Bloo was going to get one of these, she decided happily – he certainly was cute enough to receive a gift from her. It was pretty obvious, though, they were of little interest to herself. She was more of a … material girl rather than being spiritual.

‘He smokes a LOT,’ she confirmed, her annoyance seeping all over the place and easily felt. ‘I keep telling him it’s bad, but he doesn’t care. At least he does go out onto the balcony for it …’ And just how often had she joined him there, bringing his coat with her to wrap it around his shoulders, worried her soul-bond would be cold? ‘It’s stinky,’ she added. She still considered it quite an insult he seemed to think just the same of her incense – but those were actually good for you!!

A car’s horn was sounded in front of the store. Once, then – after a small pause – more persistently.

Nephrite heaved a quit sigh. Just as usual, Amon refused to contact her mentally, lest alone set foot inside the store. Which – she figured – might have to do something with the fact he perfectly knew it wasn’t Reyna’s shift today. She couldn’t quite figure out what it was between those two, but her presence never failed to lure him inside. Weirrrrrd …

Nephrite nodded, zipping off to gather up what few belongings she had with her today, stuffing her book and the small bottle Algie had given her into a pretty brocade bag. Well, the book wasn’t really hers, she’d have to give it back to Athan some time. After she was done reading it.

‘You don’t have to make so much noise,’ she sent, her annoyance filtering through. ‘I’m coming.’

She hesitated for a moment, looking about. Wasn’t she forgetting something? She had a verrrry distinct feeling she was forgetting something. But what? ‘Why wont you come in for a bit?’ she tried to convince her guardian. ‘There are people here. Nice people. And another wisp.’

‘Not interested,’ was the brief reply, but at least she got one. There was a fleeting sense of irritation, that his ‘work’ – whatever it was, she had yet to figure that out – had possibly not gone too well. It kept happening, ever since they’d been to the Haunted House.

‘That’s him,’ she confirmed, pointing at an older model black Mercedes which had stopped on just the opposite side of the street with its hazard lights flashing.

‘Thank you,’ Nephrite chirped. She hooked her arm into Algie’s as if it was the most natural thing of the world to do, even without him offering it – she was just so used to it from Amon.

‘Neph, who is that?’ Amon promptly inquired, not-so-pleased to see his charge like that with a complete stranger. Given, from what she’d mentioned he was just another guardian, and those seemed to be – for the most part – a decent lot. They had to be, as he just couldn’t imagine Athan picking someone irresponsible to raise a Shadow. Reyna, on the other hand … Well, he was one of those who'd had the ‘pleasure’ being a victim of her irresponsibility.

‘Algernon,’ Neph replied. ‘Look, he gave me this pretty flower? He-’ She broke off before she could blurt and tell it’d been made with magic, despite her excitement. ‘And that is Bloodstone,’ she added, pointing at the tiny wisp.

She seemed to listen for a while, before she nodded and let go of Algie’s arm. ‘He says thank you for taking care of me.’ Well, what he’d actually said was something along the lines of ‘sorry if she bothered you’, but she was getting better at translating Amon-talk, and quite certain this was what he actually meant to say. ‘I have to go now,’ she added wistfully. ‘He’s had a bad day and wants home.’

She patted Algie’s arm and waved to Bloo before she turned and rose herself aloft to cross the street well above the traffic. She clearly was in no danger of being hit, ethereal as she was, but the average driver generally didn’t take too well to the random fiend phasing through their car. She’d gotten quite an earful the one time she’d done that, but, more than that, she’d been utterly terrified people had been hurt because of the accident her thoughtlessness had caused.

She didn’t bother with the door to get into Amon’s car, instead phasing right through roof and flopping onto the backseat. It was accompanied by a very audible ’boink!’ sort of sound. Nephrite blinked, certain she was missing something. And where had that sound come from?

Amon breathed in sharply, his jaw moving as if to say something, the fingers of his right hand drummed on the steering wheel just once. “Your bag,” he said, as calmly as he could, “I hope there wasn’t anything fragile in it?” Not to mention the dent she’d likely added to his car. Again.

‘Uhm …’ Neph made, her gray eyes widening. The bottle Algie had given her! And he’d be so nice to her. And it was supposed to help Amon. Oh, how had she … how could she possibly … And there was Athan’s book in there too!! ‘I didn’t mean to!’ She exclaimed.

“You never do,” Amon sighed. That’s what made it so incredibly hard to be truly mad at her. No small wonder Athan seemed to constantly suffer from headaches … “Was any of the things in that bag not yours?”

‘The book …?’ Nephrite looked at him with big, wibbly, teary eyes. The bottle, as far as she’d understood, had been a gift freely given and thus was hers now.

“One of Athan’s?”

Nephrite nodded.

“Well, that’s not that bad then.” If Athan lent her a book it was likely going to be spelled against stains of all sorts, from water to acid, and probably against being burned or eaten by dragons on top of it. No worries there. He checked for the traffic before he got out of the car to retrieve the bag – sure enough, there was a dark stain at its bottom, and some sort of liquid was dripping from it. He touched the liquid, just to check if it was any of Neph’s essential oils – those left nasty stains – but it seemed to be something water based, so he just dropped it in the footwell of the passenger seat.

“Will you use the door from now on?”

Nephrite nodded, still looking quite miserable. Suddenly remembering about it, she felt for the lotus flower in her hair, but that one was still there, and fine. Probably because it had been closer to her. Good thing she hadn’t broken both of her gifts.

“Lesson learned then.” He turned briefly go glance at Algernon on the other side of the street, greeting him with a barely visible nod before he got back into the car. He wasn’t smiling. Welcome to Chaos, you just got to see a rather harmless sample of what may be expecting you.